Local and General News.

Feilding Star, Volume XVIII, Issue 96, 20 October 1896, Page 2

Local and General News.

* I The Feilding S.M. Court will sit at 9 a.m on Friday. Additions are made to-day to the entries for Messrs Abraham and Williams' Palmereton sale. Wilkes, late house steward of the Wellington Hospital, has been committed for trial on a further charge of embezzling the funds of the institutioa. I The Hon R. J. Seddon will arrive in Feilding tomorrow morning by the 7.15 train and leave by vehicle for Apiti to perform the ceremony of opening the Apiti-Oroua bridge. Mr R. W. Brown invites the ratepayers in the Mangaone riding, Pohangina County, to attend a meeting in the Town Hall, Pohangina, on Saturday next, at 2.30 in the afternoon. Captain Russell estimates that the Opposition will return with a clear ma* jority of four or six, after the general election, exclusive of Government supporters and independent Liberals. We have to thank the head of tbe Govecutoeufc Statistician's office, Sydney, for a copy of " The Statistics of tbe seven colonies of Australasia from 1861 to 1895, compiled from information supplied by the Official Statisticians of the varions colonies." A toll gate is to be erected at the Manawafcu Gorge bridge on Monday, November 2nd. Travellers on horseback will have to pay ninepence, and for every two wheeled vehicle drawn by one horse two shillings. Traction engines are to be charged £I.~ Wairarapa Times. The Delohery, Craydon and Holland's Elite Variety Company appeared again in the Assembly Rooms last evening, when there was a larger attendance than on the previous occasions. The items were all well rendered and the audience testified to their appreciation by frequent applause. The Ashantee Star presented to the troops who took part in that bloodless war is made of gun metal, and is a curious, if not unique, combination of a star, a St Andrew's Cross, and a circle. On the obverse side is inscribed " Ashanti, 1896," while the legend is raised letters on the reverse is " From the Queen." The people up Birmingham way are kindly disposed. It will be remembered that Mr David Parker, in the employ of Messrs Lowes and Jarvis, died about a fortnight ago, leaving a widow and three young children. In order to assist Mrs Parker to return to her friends in Queensland, a subscription list was opened, and liberally filled. Mr Michael Davitt, M.P., in proposing a resolution at the Irish National Convention in Dublin in favour of the complete amnesty of all political offenders in British prisons, made the startling statement which created a great sensation, that during the nine years in which he had suffered penal servitude he never for one hour was free from tbe pangs of hunger. The Department of the Government Advances to Settlers, advertises money to lend upon fixed or instalment mortgages in sums of from i 25 to £3000 en freeholds and Crown leaseholds. The rates of interest and terms of repayment are exceptionally liberal, and are fully detailed in the notice. Application forms may be obtained at any post office. A meeting of members of the Feilding Cycling Club was held at the Club rooms last evening, Mr H. C. Gapper presiding. Messrs J. Yates, M. O'Reilly, and E. C. Christian were elected members of the club. Mr H. C. Gapper was elected captain, and Mr J. H. Mingins vicecaptain, and Mr A. J. Gould was elected a member of the committee. Resolved, That the executive officers transact all urgent business. The Archbishop of Paris has issued a decree forbidding his clergy from bicycling, on the ground that " it is incompatible with ecclesiastical dignity, calculated to lower the rider in the estimation of the faithful and expose him to the taunts and mockeries of the infidel . ' ' The reason is that people are apt to laugh at a priest riding on a lady's safety, for in France the priest wears a cassock that comes down to his heels. The following pun was perpetrated in the lobby of the House of Representatives during the session of Parliament — Mr Lawry, to a brother member : Say, Mr Wilson, supposing I turned cannibal and were to eat Tom Bracken, what would he be turned into ? Mr Wilson gave it up, whereupon Mr Lawry vouchsafed the reply that New Zealand's bard would then become the poet Lawry ate (Laureate). Mr Wilson is slowly recovering. An extraordinary occurrence is reported from Napier. A charge of dynamite was put down an artesian well pipe, but exploded at 200 ft instead of 400 ft, with the result that all the town wells which are in the vicinity immediately ceased to flow and have refused to supply any water since. It is thought that the explosion has caused a collapse of the water-bearing strata in the vicinity, and in that case the obtaining of afresh flow is likely to be an expensive process. Mr Menteath, oh behalf of the liquidator of tbe United Farmers' Alliance, Limited, (in voluntary liquidation), applied to Mr Justice Denniston incbambbers at Wellington on Friday to sanction a proposed scheme for the distribution among shareholders of the surplus assets of the company after payment of liabilities. His Honor refused to make any order until notice of the application had been given to the shareholders by circular, in order that if dissatisfied with the proposed arrangements they might be represented. He adjourned the consideration of the matter for a fortnight. -Post. Mr J. A-'Gilruth, Government Veterinary Surgeon, returned to Wellington by the steamer Tekapo from his visit to Europe. He spent about four months at the Pasteur Institute in Paris studying bacteriology, and also visited Berlin, Hamburg, Copenhagen and other cities. Mr Gilruth says, as the result of his observations in Queensland concerning the tick plague, that it is highly improbable that the pest will come to New Zealand provided due precautions are continued. He thinks it doubtful if the tick would live in this colony, as it has not been provided that it exists below the 24th parallel. . Mr J. O'Bryen Hoare addressed a meeting on the subject of " Cremation" at the Art Gallery, Christchurch, and dwelt at length on the advantages that would accrue to the living by the cremation of the dead. Dr Symes also spoke on cremation from the medical and scientific point of view, and forcibly pointed out the evils attendant on our present system. After the matter had been thoroughly discussed and questions answered, the following resolution was carried unanimously: — " That this meeting disapproves of tbe present custom of burying the dead, and desires to substitute some other mode which shall rapidly resolve the body into its component elements by a process which cannot offend the living or endanger public health. That until some better method is devised, it is of opinion that cremation, or distraction of the body by fire, best fulfils these conditions."— Christchurch Star.

The Dorcus meetings are to be dig- ) continued until March 1897. The Feilding Bowling green will be formally opened to-morrow. The committee of the Athletic Club will meet on Friday evening next. Mr Pirani, M.H.R., arrived in Feilding to day, and in the afternoon drove to Apiti. The annual meeting of shareholders in the Apiti Dairy Company will be held on Friday evening next. The members of the Feilding Wesleyan Church choir will assist at the concert to be held to-morrow at Fowlers. In our advertising column Mr Thomas A. Bryce announces himself as a candidate for the Rangitikei seat, in the Liberal interest. This morning while a horse was left tied up to the hitching post opposite the Bank of Australasia, the nickel silver stirrups were stolen from the saddle by some person. The gymnasium of the Young Men and Boy' Club will be open for the use of females above the age of 13 on Wednesday afternoons at the small charge of one penny. A lady member of the committee will be in attendance. Mr W. F. Marsh has sold the Apiti Boarding House to Mr A. Cartwngbt, ! who has consi<2e* - ab}y improved the ] premises since he took possession. The ! additions which have been made will ; enable the proprietor to place twentyone rooms at the service of patrons. An attractive programme has been ! prepared for the social gathering to be held in tbe Assembly Rooms to-morrow ; evening. Pincushions for the various classes in the competition have been coming in freely and we are informed that the judges will have a difficult task in awarding the prizes. A meeting of the Young Men and Boys Club Committee was held at the Club rooms last evening. The Rev Inaes Jones presided. A challenge having been received from the Waituna Draughts Club, a sub-committee was appointed to select six players, the match to be played in the Club rooms on Saturday evening next. It was decided to open the gymnasium for the use of females (above tbe age of 13) on Wednesday afternoons, provided that at least one lady member of the committee shall attend to keep order and that a penny per week be charge for such use of the gymnasium. A hearty vote of thanks to Mr Friberg for his magic lantern entertainment on Friday last was passed. The Entertainments Committee are requested to meet at the club rooms on Thursday next to arrange for a concert to be held next week.